Hard water soap?

[CheesyWalnut]

Are there any good shaving soaps that work well with hard water? I use a maggard synthetic brush and the only soaps I've tried are maggards, cella, tabac, and arko. I felt like cella gave the best shave but It still wasn't great. I heard tabac and arko also work but I haven't had much success. Maybe a soap without tallow would work better.

My water is pretty bad and sometimes comes out brown since the plumbing is old, and a water softener isn't an option. I could try using bottled water but that seems like a lot of unnecessary work. Thanks

 

[ScottMac]

I have extremely hard water and I always hear about Mitchell's Wool Fat being hard to lather especially in hard water but with my White Knight synthetic, I'm getting voluminous amounts of creamy lather with it.

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[sg01fc]

For me it's Cella. That has been easiest for me.

 

[Demaratus]

MdC or Haslinger.


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[Chandu]

I could try using bottled water but that seems like a lot of unnecessary work.

Not very much water is required. A typical 16.9 ounce bottle would probably last for a couple weeks worth of lather. You can used your tap water for all other aspects of your shave, just use the bottled water for your lathering.

 

[CheesyWalnut]

Would B&M Seville be a good choice?

 

[Roy]

I've hard water but even MWF lathered easily. I think if anyone cannot lather a soap, there must be other factors. Yes, soft water lathers best, but I've only noticed a slight difference.
Bottled water is a HUGE waste. Why not get o be of these jugs with a filter. They seem to do a good job filtering out impurities.

 

[JohnnyWayne203]

Speick or La Toja shave sticks
If the shave stick isn’t your thing, you could run the soap thru a cheese grater into a bowl and press. Works like a charm for me

 

[Scarry Knight]

Kirk’s coco castille is a good hardwater soap. I believe it used to even have hard water in it’s name. It isnt a shave specific soap but I and some others use it here. I have also grated it and added in other ingredients. I can’t compare it to shave specific soaps like you’ve mentioned, as I can’t use them. They have ingredients that I don't want to apply to my skin and most always fragrances, which I dasn’t apply, for extreme sensitivity to them. Kirks does provide a rich lather in hard water.

Can you employ a faucet or other drain type (brita) filter? That may help. There are things you can add, such as baking soda to make the water feel softer-ascorbic or citric acid (vit C) to remove chlorine, and washing soda to chemically soften hard water.
(For the latter)
Water purity - Revision 5 - GCSE Chemistry (Single Science) - BBC Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zphcwmn/revision/5

Maybe not what you were looking for, but hope something was of help.

 

[Ricksplace]

Arko. It will lather in anything that remotely resembles water.

 

[EddieSlick]

Ditto on the Arko.

 

[Halfblade]

You've had a great response on W_E.

I suggest that you go by it.

 

[Marhos24]

B&M reserve series is supposed to have "absolute hard water tolerance". Might be worth a try. Maggards has samples for a few bucks.

 

[mrdoug]

I always thought I had hard water but I've never had issues lathering. Thus, I could be wrong.

I always thought hard water just hindered lathering...that if you has everything else right, the water type wouldn't matter much.

I use the coveted (and cheap) timeless bowl. Always scoop and "smush" the soap into the bowl. Pre-soap the soap in the bowl with a bit of water, then treat it like I'm interrogating it. Always works for me regardless of the soap.

Again, I could be mistaken on my water... Maybe I haven't had the experience yet with truly hard water?

Nonetheless, Good luck.

 

[samhain666]

My town has hard water (shower 1 time and bathroom gets white). For me my go to soaps are Palmolive stick grated and hand pressed into a container (you can use it as it is, I prefer my soaps in puck shape) or Tabac soap. Arko an Speick will work too but they can act up specially Arko. If your brush is too wet or if you swirl too agresively it can get bubbly beyond repair

 

[Raven Koenes]

I have extremely hard water and I always hear about Mitchell's Wool Fat being hard to lather especially in hard water but with my White Knight synthetic, I'm getting voluminous amounts of creamy lather with it.

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You may be on with something about the synthetic. Synthetics just might turn all soaps into hard water soaps.

 

[BigJ]

Great advice above! My choices would be Haslinger, Cella or La Toja (stick).

 

[Bumpymacaroon]

Live in east anglia UK the water is pretty hard, I have encountered no problems with MWF, razorock aqua and haslingers sheep milk, marigold and seaweed all perform well, I use omega synthetic brushes and bowl lather

 

[ghostlife]

If Tabac and Arko won't work, you won't find much else that will. It could be an issue other than your water, or you need to look into softening it somehow.

note that hard water isn't brown

Can you employ a faucet or other drain type (brita) filter?

If hardness is the issue that won't change anything

 

[Tallships]

I have hard town water. I use Cella (kilo), Arko stick(bowl pressed), and Williams/Dove mix, I get great lather with all. I've installed an in line house water filter, placed at the inlet pipe from street, that mostly removes any brown sediment, it is easy to install no plumper needed.It's easy to change filter.